In this episode of the Collective Genius Podcast, I sit down with someone who proves that market size is never the reason you can't scale. Brian Ferguson, a longtime operator and brand-new CG member, joins me to share how he built and diversified a high-performing real estate business out of one of the smallest MSAs in the country. We talk about navigating multiple asset classes, leading an executive team, and creating structure that actually allows a business to grow.

Brian also opens up about surviving market shifts, the challenges of hiring before you know what you're doing, the mistakes he'd correct if he were starting over, and the small but pivotal changes that doubled his team's weekly contract volume immediately after attending his first CG meeting. If you've been feeling stuck because of your market, your team, or your systems, this conversation will give you a clear and honest look at what's possible.

Episode Timeline & Expanded Highlights

[0:00] – Introducing Brian and why his small-market success story is so rare.

[1:48] – How Victoria, TX became the home base for a multi-division real estate company.

[2:41] – The evolution from single-family flips to rentals, multifamily, industrial, retail, and self-storage.

[4:09] – Brian's honest take on expanding into new markets versus new asset classes.

[5:12] – The operational discipline required before jumping into any additional asset class.

[6:08] – How structure from Sharper and Amanda Dean helped his company avoid "whiplash."

[7:06] – Why he stayed put in a small market while others expanded into nearby cities.

[8:47] – The slow and steady timeline behind expanding into larger assets (20 years in the making).

[9:17] – How Brian's background in auto finance sharpened his negotiation and numbers skills.

[10:14] – Bringing car sales negotiation tactics into early real estate deals.

[11:06] – The role his longtime business partner played in operations and construction oversight.

[13:12] – Lessons learned from early partnerships and why "staying in your lane" saved their business.

[15:06] – A simple hiring philosophy that worked long before personality indexes existed.

[17:34] – Why he eventually realized that hiring people smarter than him was essential for scale.

[20:48] – What Brian enjoys most today as the company's visionary and what he misses from the early days.

[22:36] – How quarterly planning, accountability, and a passionate leadership room transformed operations.

[26:02] – Preparing for a market shift by making fast, difficult decisions to protect long-term stability.

[28:02] – Right-sizing the company during the downturn and how his team stepped up in major ways.

[30:21] – Brian's first CG meeting and how it completely shifted his view of the single-family industry.

[32:15] – Why the collaboration, openness, and willingness to share inside CG stood out immediately.

[33:04] – Implementing only the top five initiatives from the meeting and seeing instant results.

[34:12] – The biggest breakthrough: starting to make offers in the living room for the first time in 19 years.

[38:11] – The importance of trusting the team before shifting sales strategy.

[42:15] – The role of Pi testing, Cog testing, and accountability in building the right acquisitions team.

Key Takeaways

1. Small markets don't dictate small businesses. Brian built a diversified, multi-division company inside a sub-100k MSA by mastering asset classes rather than chasing new territories.
2. Team structure determines scale. Strategic hiring, leadership alignment, and clear lanes of responsibility turned chaos into disciplined growth.
3. Operational discipline beats shiny-object syndrome. Brian only expands into a new asset class after deeply understanding and stabilizing the current one.
4. Fast decisions save companies in downturns. Because he lived through 2008, Brian recognized early indicators in 2022 and acted before the pain hit.
5. One small tactical change can be transformational. After his first CG meeting, Brian's team doubled their weekly contracts simply by making offers in the living room.

Links & Resources Mentioned

• Connect with Brian Ferguson & the Fergmar Team: https://fergmar.com/services/investment-management
• Learn more about Collective Genius: https://explorecg.com/

Closing

If you enjoyed this conversation or took away something valuable for your own business, make sure to rate the show, leave a review, share it with another investor, and follow the podcast so you don't miss upcoming episodes. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next week on the Collective Genius Podcast.